Giulio Cossu got his MD degree with honors at the University of Rome La Sapienza in 1977. From 1978 to 1980 he was CNR Fellow at the Institute of Histology of La Sapienza University of Rome. From 1980 to 1983 he was USPHS Fogarthy Fellow at the Wistar Institute of the University of Pennsylvania. From 1983 to 1986 he was researcher at the Institute of Histology at University of Rome and from 1993 to 1994 he was visiting professor at the Department of Molecular Biology of the Institut Pasteur in Paris. He has been professor of Histology at the Department of Biology at University of Milan since 2005. He has directed the  Stem cells and muscular distrophies unit since 2002. He is also Senior Editor of the EMBO Molecular Medicine and Chair of Molecular Medicine Panel at the European Research Council.

Giulio Cossu's areas of interests are the Myogenic cell lineages, the Differentiation of skeletal muscle, the Muscle gene and cell therapy and the Multipotent stem cells. 

 
Publications:

 

Cossu G. (2009) Challenges in translational research. EMBO Mol. Med. In press.

 

Donati C, Cencetti F, De Palma C, Rapizzi E, Brunelli S, Cossu G, Clementi E, Bruni P TGFbeta protects mesoangioblasts from apoptosis via sphingosine kinase-1 regulation.  Cell Signal. 2009 Feb;21(2):228-36. Epub 2008 Oct 20.


Lolmede K, Campana L, Vezzoli M, Bosurgi L, Tonlorenzi R, Clementi E, Bianchi ME, Cossu G, Manfredi AA, Brunelli S, Rovere-Querini P. 2009. Inflammatory and alternatively activated human macrophages attract vessel-associated stem cells, relying on separate HMGB1- and MMP-9-dependent pathways. J Leukoc Biol. 2009 Feb 5. [Epub ahead of print]

Messina G and Cossu G. (2009) The origin of embryonic and fetal myoblasts: a role of Pax3 and Pax7. Genes & Dev. In press.

 

Schnapp E, Pistocchi AS, Karampetsou E, Foglia E, Lamia CL, Cotelli F, Cossu G. (2009) Induced early expression of MRF4 but not myog rescues myogenesis in the myod/myf5 double-morphant zebrafish embryo. J Cell Sci. 122:481-8.

 

Berghella, L., De Angelis, L., De Buysscher, T., Mortazavi, A., Biressi, S.,
Forcales, S.V.,  Sirabella, D., Cossu, G. and Wold, B. (2008) A highly conserved molecular switch binds MSY-3 to regulate myogenin repression in post-natal muscle Genes & Dev. 22(15):2125-38.

 

Biressi S, Messina G, Collombat P, Tagliafico E, Monteverde S, Benedetti L, Cusella De Angelis MG, Mansouri A, Ferrari S, Tajbakhsh S, Broccoli V, Cossu G. (2008) The homebox gene Arx is a novel positive regulator of embryonic myogenesis. Cell Death Differ. 15(1):94-104.

 

Cassano M, Biressi S, Finan A, Benedetti L, Omes C, Boratto R, Martin F, Allegretti M, Broccoli V, Cusella De Angelis G, Comoglio PM, Basilico C, Torrente Y, Michieli P, Cossu G, Sampaolesi M. Magic-factor 1, a partial agonist of Met, induces muscle hypertrophy by protecting myogenic progenitors from apoptosis. PLoS ONE. 2008 Sep 16;3(9):e3223.

 

Galvez, B.G., Sampaolesi, M., Barbuti, A., Crespi, A., Covarello, D., Brunelli, S., Dellavalle, A., Crippa, S., Balconi, G., Cuccovillo, I., Molla, F., Staszewsky, L., Latini, R., Difrancesco, D. and Cossu, G. (2008) Cardiac mesoangioblasts are committed, self-renewable progenitors, associated with small vessels of juvenile mouse ventricle. Cell Death Differ. 2008 15:1417-28

 

Gargioli, C., Coletta, M., De Grandis, F., Cannata, S.M. and Cossu G. (2008) PlGF-MMP9 expressing cells restore microcirculation and efficacy of cell therapy in old dystrophic muscle. Nature Med. 14(9):973-8.


Hoshiya H, Kazuki Y, Abe S, Takiguchi M, Kajitani N, Watanabe Y, Yoshino T, Shirayoshi Y, Higaki K, Messina G, Cossu G, Oshimura M. A highly Stable and Nonintegrated Human Artificial Chromosome (HAC) Containing the 2.4 Mb Entire Human Dystrophin Gene. Mol Ther. 2008 Nov 25. [Epub ahead of print]

Hyun I, Lindvall O, Ahrlund-Richter L, Cattaneo E, Cavazzana-Calvo M, Cossu G, De Luca M, Fox IJ, Gerstle C, Goldstein RA, Hermerén G, High KA, Kim HO, Lee HP, Levy-Lahad E, Li L, Lo B, Marshak DR, McNab A, Munsie M, Nakauchi H, Rao M, Rooke HM, Valles CS, Srivastava A, Sugarman J, Taylor PL, Veiga A, Wong AL, Zoloth L, Daley GQ. New ISSCR guidelines underscore major principles for responsible translational stem cell research.  Cell Stem Cell. 2008 Dec 4;3(6):607-9. Review.

 

Marchesi , C., Belicchi, M., Meregalli, M., Farini, A., Cattaneo, A., Parolini, D., Gavina, M., Porretti, L., D'Angelo, M.G., Bresolin, N., Cossu, G. and Torrente, Y. (2008) Correlation of circulating CD133+ progenitor subclasses with a mild phenotype in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients. PLoS ONE. May 21;3(5):e2218

 

Messina G, Sirabella D, Monteverde S, Galvez BG, Tonlorenzi R, Schnapp E, De Angelis L, Brunelli S, Relaix F, Buckingham M, Cossu G.Skeletal Muscle Differentiation Of Embryonic Mesoangioblasts Requires Pax3 Activity.  Stem Cells. 2008 Oct 9. [Epub ahead of print]

 

Riboldi SA, Sadr N, Pigini L, Neuenschwander P, Simonet M, Mognol P, Sampaolesi M, Cossu G, Mantero S. (2008) Skeletal myogenesis on highly orientated microfibrous polyesterurethane scaffolds. J Biomed Mater Res 15;84(4):1094-101

 

Scardigli, R., Gargioli, C., Tosoni, D., Borello, U., Sampaolesi, M., Sciorati, C., Cannata, S., Clementi, E., Brunelli, S. and Cossu G. (2008) Binding of sFRP-3 to EGF in the extra-cellular space affects proliferation, differentiation and morphogenetic events regulated by the two molecules. PLoS ONE. June 18;3(6):e2471.


Biressi S, Molinaro M, Cossu G. (2007) Cellular heterogeneity during vertebrate muscle development. Dev Biol. 308:281-93.

 

Biressi, S, Tagliafico, E, Lamorte, G, Monteverde, S, Tenedini, E, Roncaglia, E, Ferrari, S, Ferrari, St, Cusella-De Angelis, MG, Tajbakhsh, S and Cossu, G. (2007) Intrinsic phenotypic diversity of embryonic and fetal myoblasts is revealed by genome-wide gene expression analysis on purified cells. Dev. Biol. 304:633-651.

 

Brunelli, S., Relaix, F., Baesso, S., Buckingham, M. and Cossu, G. (2007) Beta catenin-independent activation of MyoD in presomitic mesoderm requires PKC and depends on Pax3 transcriptional activity. Dev. Biol. 304:604-614.

 

Brunelli, S., Sciorati, C., D’Antona, G., Innocenzi, A., Covarello, D., Galvez, B.G., Perrotta, C., Monopoli, A., Sanvito, F., Bottinelli, R., Ongini, E., Cossu, G. and Clementi, E. (2007) Nitric oxide release combined with nonsteroidal antinflammatory activity prevents muscular dystrophy pathology and enhances stem cell therapy. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104:264-269.

 

Castaldi L, Serra C, Moretti F, Messina G, Paoletti R, Sampaolesi M, Torgovnick A, Baiocchi M, Padula F, Pisaniello A, Molinaro M, Cossu G, Levrero M, Bouché M. (2007) Bisperoxovanadium, a phospho-tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor, reprograms myogenic cells to acquire a pluripotent, circulatin phenotype. FASEB J 21(13):3573-83.

 

Cossu G, Sampaolesi M. (2007) New therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy: challenges, prospects and clinical trials. Trends Mol Med. 13(12):520-6.

 

Cossu, G. and Tajbakhsh, S. (2007). Oriented Cell Divisions and Muscle Satellite Cell Heterogeneity. Cell. 129, 859-861.

 

Dellavalle, A, Sampaolesi, M, Tonlorenzi, R, Tagliafico, E, Sacchetti, B,  Perani, L,, Innocenzi, B,  Galvez, BG,  Messina, G,   Morosetti, R,  Li, S,  Belicchi, M, Peretti, G,  Chamberlain, JS,  Wright, WE,  Torrente, Y,   Ferrari, S,  Bianco, P and Cossu, G. (2007) Pericytes of human skeletal muscle are myogenic precursors distinct from satellite cells. Nature Cell Biol. 9:255-67.

 

Deponti D, François S, Baesso S, Sciorati C, Innocenzi A, Broccoli V, Muscatelli F, Meneveri R, Clementi E, Cossu G, Brunelli S. (2007) Necdin mediates skeletal muscle regeneration by promoting myoblast survival and differentiation. J Cell Biol.  22;179(2):305-19.


Morosetti R, Mirabella M, Gliubizzi C, Broccolini A, Sancricca C, Pescatori M, Gidaro T, Tasca G, Frusciante R, Tonali PA, Cossu G, Ricci E. (2007) Isolation and characterization of mesoangioblasts from facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy muscle biopsies. Stem Cells. 25(12):3173-82.

 

Palumbo R, Galvez BG, Pusterla T, De Marchis F, Cossu G, Marcu KB, Bianchi ME. (2007) Cells migrating to sites of tissue damage in response to the danger signal HMGB1 require NF-kappaB activation. J Cell Biol. 8;179(1):33-40.

 

Peault, B., Rudnicki, M., Torrente, Y., Cossu, G., Tremblay, J.P., Partridge, T., Gussoni, E., Kunkel, L.M. and Huard, J. (2007) Stem and Progenitor Cells in Skeletal Muscle Development, Maintenance, and Therapy. Mol Ther. 15(5):867-877


Tonlorenzi R, Dellavalle A, Schnapp E, Cossu G, Sampaolesi M. Isolation and characterization of mesoangioblasts from mouse, dog, and human tissues.  Curr Protoc Stem Cell Biol. 2007 Chapter 2:Unit 2B.1

 

Torrente Y, Belicchi M, Marchesi C, Dantona G, Cogiamanian F, Pisati F, Gavina M, Giordano R, Tonlorenzi R, Fagiolari G, Lamperti C, Porretti L, Lopa R, Sampaolesi M, Vicentini L, Grimoldi N, Tiberio F, Songa V, Baratta P, Prelle A, Forzenigo L, Guglieri M, Pansarasa O, Rinaldi C, Mouly V, Butler-Browne GS, Comi GP, Biondetti P, Moggio M, Gaini SM, Stocchetti N, Priori A, D'Angelo MG, Turconi A, Bottinelli R, Cossu G, Rebulla P, Bresolin N. (2007) Autologous transpantation of muscle-derived CD133+ stem cells in Duchenne muscle patients. Cell Transplant. 16(6):563-77.

 

Borello, U., Berarducci, B., Murphy, P., Bajard L, Buffa, V. Piccolo, S., Buckingham, M. and Cossu, G. (2006) The Wnt/b-catenin pathway regulates the Shh-mediated Myf5 activation during somitogenesis. Development, 133: 3723-3732.

 

Esner, M, Meilach, S.M., Relaix, F., Nicolas, J.F., Cossu, G. and Buckingham, M. (2006) Smooth muscle of the dorsal aorta shares a common clonal origin with skeletal muscle of the myotome. Development 133, 737-749.

 

Galvez, B.G., Sampaolesi, M., Brunelli, S., Covarello, D., Gavina, M., Rossi, B., Costantin,  G., Torrente, Y. and Cossu G. (2006) Complete repair of dystrophic skeletal muscle by mesoangioblasts with enhanced migratory ability.  J. Cell Biol. 174:231-243.

 

Morosetti, R., Mirabella, M., Gliubizzi, C., Broccolini, A., De Angelis, L., Tagliafico, E., Sampaolesi, M., Gidaro, T., Papacci, M., Roncaglia, E., Rutella, S., Ferrari, St., Tonali, P.A., Ricci, E. and Cossu, G. (2006). MyoD expression reverts a BHLHB3-dependent block of myogenic differentiation of human mesoangioblasts from inclusion-body myositis muscle. (2006) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103:16995-7000.

 

Pisconti, A., Brunelli, S., Di Padova, M., De Palma, C., Deponti, D., Baesso, S., Sartorelli, V., Cossu, G. and Clementi, E. (2006) Follistatin induction by nitric oxide through cyclic gmp: a tightly-regulated signalling pathway that controls myoblast fusion. J. Cell Biol. 172, 233-244.

 

Sampaolesi, M., Blot, S., D’Antona, G., Granger, N., Tonlorenzi, R., Innocenzi, A., Mognol, P., Thibaud, J.L., Galvez, B.G., Barthélémy, I., Perani, L., Mantero, S., Guttinger, M., Pansarasa, O., Rinaldi, C., Cusella De Angelis, M.G., Torrente, Y., Bordignon, C., Bottinelli, R. and Cossu, G. (2006) Mesoangioblast stem cells ameliorate muscle function in dystrophic dogs. Nature, 444:574-9.

 

Sciorati C, Galvez BG, Brunelli S, Tagliafico E, Ferrari S, Cossu G, Clementi E. (2006) Ex vivo treatment with nitric oxide increases mesoangioblast therapeutic efficacy in muscolar dystrophy. J Cell Sci. 119:5114-23


Brunelli, S. and Cossu, G. (2005) Msx-2 and Necdin in mesoangioblast and smooth muscle differentiation. Trends Cardiovasc. Med. 15, 96-100.


Galli, D., Innocenzi, A., Staszewsky, L., Zanetta, L., Sampaolesi, M., Bai, A., Martinoli, E., Carlo, E., Balconi, G., Fiordaliso, F., Chimenti S., Cusella, M.G., Dejana, E., Cossu, G. and Latini, R. (2005) Mesoangioblasts, vessel-associated multipotent stem cells, repair the infarcted heart by multiple cellular mechanisms. A comparison with bone marrow progenitors, fibroblasts and endothelial cells. Ather. Thromb. Vascular Biol. 25:692-697.

 

Brunelli, S., Tagliafico, E., G. De Angelis, F.G., Tonlorenzi, R., Baesso, S., Ferrari, Se., Niinobe, M., Yoshikawa, K., Bozzoni, I., Ferrari, St. and Cossu, G. (2004) Msx2 and Necdin combined activities are required for smooth muscle differentiation in mesoangioblast stem cells. Circulat. Res. 94:1571-1578.

 

Cossu, G. (2004) Fusion with striated muscle may not be sufficient to activate muscle genes in  bone marrow derived stem cells. J. Clin. Invest. 114, 140-143.


Cossu, G. and Sampaolesi, M. (2004) New Therapies for muscular dystrophy: cautious optimism? Trends Mol. Med. 10, 516-520.

 

Grassi, F., Pagani, F. Spinelli, G., De Angelis, L. Cossu, G. and Eusebi, F. (2004) Fusion-independent expression of functional ACh receptors in mouse mesoangioblasts contacting myoblast membrane in co-culture. J. Physiol. 560, 479-489.

 

Messina E, De Angelis L, Frati G, Morrone S, Chimenti S, Fiordaliso F, Salio M, Battaglia M, Latronico MV, Coletta M, Vivarelli E, Frati L, Cossu G, Giacomello A. (2004) Isolation and expansion of adult cardiac stem cells from human and murine heart.  Circ Res. 95, 911-921.

 

Palumbo R, Sampaolesi M, De Marchis F, Tonlorenzi R, Colombetti S, Mondino A, Cossu G, Bianchi ME (2004) Extracellular HMGB1, a signal of tissue damage, induces mesoangioblast migration and proliferation J. Cell Biol. 164, 441-449.

Sampaolesi, M., Cusella De Angelis, M.G. and Cossu, G. (2004) Stem cells for the treatment of Muscular Dystrophy: more than a wishful thinking? In Handbook of Stem Cells (R.P. Lanza ed.) Elsevier, Vol II pag. 721-729.

 

Tagliafico, E., Brunelli, S., Bergamaschi, A., De Angelis, L., Scardigli, R. Galli, D., Battini, R., Bianco, P., Ferrari, Se., Cossu, G. and Ferrari, St. (2004) TGFbeta/BMP activate the smooth muscle/bone differentiation programs in mesoangioblasts. J. Cell Science 117:4377-4388.


Torrente, Y., Belicchi, A., Sampaolesi, M., Pisati, F., Lestingi,  M., D'Antona, G., Tonlorenzi, R., Porretti, L., Gavina,  M., Mamchaoui, K., Pellegrino, M.A., Furling, D., Mouly, V.,  Butler-Browne, G.S., Bottinelli, R., Cossu, G.  and Bresolin, N. (2004) Human circulating AC133+ stem cells replenish the satellite cell pool, restore dystrophin expression and ameliorate function upon transplantation in murine dystrophic skeletal muscle. J. Clin. Invest. 114:182-195.

 

Bonci, D, Borello, U. Latronico, L., Monti, G., Aycock, J.K., Drusco, A. , Innocenzi, A., Follenzi, A., Cittadini, A., Naldini, L.,Peschle, C.,  Cossu, G. and Condorelli, G.L. (2003) Advanced generation lentiviruses as efficient vectors for cardiomyocyte gene transduction in vitro and in vivo. Gene Therapy 10, 630–636.

 

Cossu G,  Bianco P (2003). Mesoangioblasts, vascular progenitors for extra-vascular mesoderm. Curr. Op. Genet. Develop. 13: 537-542.

 

Sampaolesi M, Torrente Y, Innocenzi A, Tonlorenzi R, D'Antona G, Pellegrino MA, Barresi R, Bresolin N, De Angelis MG, Campbell KP, Bottinelli R, Cossu G. (2003) Cell therapy of alpha-sarcoglycan null dystrophic mice through intra-arterial delivery of mesoangioblasts. Science 301: 487-92.

 

Minasi MG, Riminucci M, De Angelis L, Borello U, Berarducci B, Innocenzi A, Caprioli A, Sirabella D, Baiocchi M, De Maria R, Boratto R, Jaffredo T, Broccoli V, Bianco P, Cossu G. (2002) The meso-angioblast: a multipotent, self-renewing cell that originates from the dorsal aorta and differentiates into most mesodermal tissues. Development. 129:2773-83.


Galli R, Borello U, Gritti A, Minasi MG, Bjornson C, Coletta M, Mora M, De Angelis MG, Fiocco R, Cossu G, Vescovi AL. (2000) Skeletal myogenic potential of human and mouse neural stem cells. Nature Neurosci. 3:986-91.

 

De Angelis L, Berghella L, Coletta M, Lattanzi L, Zanchi M, Cusella-De Angelis MG, Ponzetto C, Cossu G. (1999) Skeletal myogenic progenitors originating from embryonic dorsal aorta coexpress endothelial and myogenic markers and contribute to postnatal muscle growth and regeneration. J Cell Biol. 147:869-78.

 

Ferrari G, Cusella-De Angelis G, Coletta M, Paolucci E, Stornaiuolo A, Cossu G, Mavilio F. (1998) Muscle regeneration by bone marrow-derived myogenic progenitors. Science 279:1528-30.